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About 62 percent of HCA’s admissions’ are paid from tax dollars, ie Medicare, Medicaid, and managed Medicare and Medicaid programs, the company reported to stockholders. Privately insured or uninsured patients made up the rest.

Tenet Healthcare: CEO Trevor Fetter earned $6.8 million, including the same extras. About 47 percent of Tenet’s admissions are paid with tax dollars.

WellPoint's CEO enjoyed compensation of over $10 million last year. /AP

And here’s what the CEOs at the major insurance companies serving our area made in FY 2009.

UnitedHealth Group: CEO Stephen Hemsley made $7.46 million in annual compensation, plus he exercised stock options worth $98.578 million, for total compensation of more than $106 million.

What about the major pharmaceutical companies? The New York Times’ Prescriptions blog took this issue up last month, using data from FiercePharma.

Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler / AP

Ex-Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan earned $49.6 million including salary, compensation and a bonus tied to Merck’s purchase of the company.

Johnson and Johnson CEO Bill Weldon earned $30 million.

Abbott Laboratories’ Miles White earned $26.2 million.

Eli Lilly’s John Lechleiter earned $20.9 million.

Novartis’ Daniel Vasella earned $20.24 million.

Merck’s Richard Clark earned $16.8 million.

Pfizer’s Jeff Kindler earned $14.8 million.

So what do you think? Given these CEOs’ responsibility, education and stress, is their compensation appropriate? Should the question of how much of their companies’ revenues come from tax dollars even be considered?